Apparently I'm just really sensitive.

I don't mean emotionally, although a few my contest that point.

I mean my sensitivity to gluten. I try my hardest to live my life 100% gluten-free. I take measures that most would say are extreme. And yet I am healthier and happier for it so I am not going to change. However, because I have been so strict from the very beginning it has not allowed me to see how sensitive I really am. Recently however I have had a couple experiences that have made me realize how sensitive to gluten I truly am.

The first one really blew my mind. For Christmas my younger brother got me some salon-grade shampoo and conditioner I like. I had already been using the conditioner for a while, but hadn't splurged on the shampoo yet. I started using them right away, and loved them! After the Christmas holidays I started to noticed that my bowels were off. I would have minor cramps and bowel inconsistency. After several weeks of this I went over everything I was eating trying to figure out what was contaminating me. But I couldn't find anything, so I just let it go. A couple weeks later I was out at the store looking for hair products, trying to find something to tame my newly curly hair (more on that later). As I was looking at products I noticed that a lot of them had gluten in them. I decided not to get them, just in case. (At the time I remember questioning myself about whether that was just too extreme.) But then I had a thought. Had I checked the shampoo and conditioner I got for Christmas for gluten? I went home and checked. The conditioner was clean, but lo and behold the shampoo had gluten. So I stopped using them and within a few days my symptoms stopped.
Now let me first say that just using something with gluten in it topically does not induce a gluten reaction. The gluten has to be ingested. I was somehow ingesting enough of it through cross-contamination that it was giving me grief. I don't know how, but it did. That was my first clue that I was WAY sensitive to gluten.

The second one didn't surprise me as much, but it still gave me a clue to my sensitivity level and how I need to live me life going forward. While I was visiting my brothers at college I attended the schools Celiac Club dinner. A group of people with Celiac Disease meet once a week and share dinner. This was the first time in two years that I went to an event and ate freely. Bad move on my part. I still got sick from it. My guess is (and I am pretty confident in this) that the food got contaminated in preparation. Students made the dinner. They all live with roommates who eat gluten and who don't have any clue about cross-contamination issues. This made me realize that my resolve to have my home gluten-free is a good one. It would be so easy to get contaminated with sticky, crumby kids running around. I want to be a healthy, symptom-free mom when that time comes.

As I am becoming more aware of my sensitivity to gluten I am also becoming more aware that many other people with Celiac Disease aren't as sensitive. And actually science is beginning to back this up. It was first thought that anyone with Celiac disease would have the same reaction to the same amount of gluten. It was also believed that Gluten Intolerance, Gluten Sensitivity, and Celiac Disease were completely different things. While it's true that the reactions and severity differ, science is beginning to think that maybe they are not so different after all. The thought is slowly coming out that maybe all of these things fit together on a continuum with Gluten Intolerance being the least sensitive and Celiac Disease being the most sensitive, with different levels of sensitivity in each defined group.

There is still a lot of research to be done to fully connect all of them and there is actually a lot of controversy in the matter. Some people believe that it's unfair to those who have Celiac Disease to link Gluten Intolerance and Gluten Sensitivity into the same category because those who have Celiac Disease have certain genes, whereas those who are intolerant or sensitive don't necessarily need to have those genes. Also, the reaction in Celiac Disease has been proven to be an autoimmune response resulting in villus atrophy, whereas in intolerance and sensitivity that's not the case.

I don't know the answer to this, but I think the information is interesting. I do believe that there is varying sensitivity levels in those with Celiac Disease and I think that science is beginning to realize this as well. It's good for me to know how sensitive I truly I am so that I can live my life in the way I need to, even though some people may think me a bit extreme....

Gluten Free Review

You know how when you go to the grocery store hungry you come home with some crazy stuff? I really can't do that with the regular grocery store anymore, which is probably a good thing. However, there is still Whole Foods. I may have gone to Whole Foods hungry the other day. Things were just jumping into my basket, begging to come home with me. One thing in particular was very insistent on coming home with me. I must admit it seemed like the perfect thing. It was gluten free, I am gluten free. It was dairy free, I am dairy free. It had spinach, I love spinach. It was pizza and I have been craving pizza since the day I started this all consuming diet!!! And to top it all off, it was Amy's (and though I have been trying not to put my name on this blog, the coincidence was too great to pass it by. Yes, my name is Amy.) I was so excited to come home and try Amy's Gluten Free, Dairy Free Spinach Pizza!! It was meant to be, right?

I am not going to lie, I was a bit disappointed (although I should know better by now). It was edible, though. I may even get it again when I really want pizza. But it was not as perfect as it seemed to be in the store. So overall, I wouldn't recommend it, but it may take the edge off of some cravings.

Vendor Fair

A couple of weeks ago the local Celiac Support group held a vendor fair. It was amazing and huge!! I came away with a ton of information, gluten free samples to last me weeks, and some great ideas for food. The 70+ vendors ranged from things like local restaurants, country-wide grocery chains, local catering, or people just selling their product. Here are a few of my favorite finds...

 Whole Foods - I already shop at Whole Foods for some things. I had noticed that they had a store brand line of gluten free food. I never wanted to try because I wasn't sure how reliable it was. However, here's what I found out. Everything in the Whole Foods gluten free line is processed and packaged in a seperate facility, so it is completely safe. I was so excited to find this out because now I have a whole new line of stuff to try.

Gluten Free Catering/Bakery - There are tons of gluten free catering and bakery companies, especially locally! (Be sure to check their practices though.) I always wondered what I would do for big events (ie. wedding), now I know there are some options around.

Celiaccess - This cute local couple has started a website, celiaccess.com. I think that if people take advantage of this new resource that it could make living a gluten free diet so much easier. You can look up any product on this website and get information about it's status of being gluten free or not. This includes resources on where the information was found and what makes it gluten free or not. Here's the thing though. Products are put on by other people. So, once you find out about a product that you like, put it on celiaccess.

Like I said before, there were tons of samples there. I am not going to go into everything I tried but here are the two things that I found that I liked.

Pamela's Cookies - I tried one of Pamela's mixes before and I really didn't like it, so I was skeptical about trying Pamela's cookies. However, they were delicious. I tried several kinds. My two favorites were the Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chunk and the Mini Ginger Snaps. While I did enjoy these cookies, I am trying to stay away from sugary things (I'm not going to lie though, I really fell off that bandwagon with Halloween, oh well) so I'll probably won't eat them very often.

Bakery on Main Granola - I have always wanted to try this granola, but never had the courage to. It's not like regular granola, there are no oats. I tried 3 different kinds and they were all delicious!! I will definitely be getting them again. My favorite was the Extreme Fruit and Nut. Here's why... I love hazelnuts! So imagine my joy when I pour a handful of granola in my mouth and bite down to have the taste of hazelnut fill my mouth. That moment made me entire week!! So, that was the vendor fair. Definitely worth my entire morning. I can't wait till next year!!

Gluten Free Review

This is going to be a long post. I have tried many 'gluten-free' products and have yet to post about them, so here we go...

Van's Blueberry Waffles- These were not delicious. They crumbled, had a rough texture, and no flavor. Seriously, nothing. Every once in a while I thought I tasted a hint of blueberry, but that was it. It was not worth the raw mouth you get from eating them. However, if you just need a base for some syrup or something these might be good for you.

                                                                                            

 French Meadow Bakery Brownies - You can buy these in the frozen section of Whole Foods. I enjoyed them. However, you have to eat them while the are still a bit chilled. If you let them come completley to room temperature that are kind of gritty. While I did enjoy them I do not think they are worth the price. They are about $7.00 a box and you get 9 small brownies. I can make my own that taste just as good or better for much less.

A Taste of Thai Garlic Basil Coconut Rice First - Let me say that I love rice mixes. Before I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease Rice A Roni and such was my favorite stuff. Now, that said, this rice mix was not my favorite. I love Thai food but something just seemed a bit off with the flavors. Also, I made it per the directions, and it was all cooked, but it just seemed dry. I don't know if it was just the kind of rice they used, I have never had Jasmine rice before, but it wasn't my favorite. And again, it was a bit expensive for what I got out of it. I'm sure that I could come up with something that I like better on my own.

Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Brownie Mix -

Your first reaction when you see these brownies is going to be, "Is that chocolate or poop?" If I hadn't been the one to make these I would have said poop. These were not good, at all. They were gritty and had a nasty after-taste. I can and have made homemade gluten-free brownies that taste much better than these. I love Bob's Red Mill but this is not their best product.

Funny story though... I took these brownies to a party so that there would be something that I could eat. Unfortunately I couldn't get to some people to tell them to watch out because they were 'special' brownies. It was really funny to watch their faces across the room as they stuck the whole thing in their mouths. Towards the end one of my friends came into the room and said, "Pumba, I'm sorry I thought you left and I threw out your brownies." The guy sitting next to me turned and said with a tone of relief, "Oh, you brought those brownies? That makes sense now... there was no real flour in them." Needless to say they were not the hit of the party.

Boomi Bars

I didn't take a picture of these, sorry. I tried three different kinds. Macadamia Paradise was delicious but very sweet. I loved the mix of flavors between the pineapple and the macadamia nuts. Perfect Pumpkin --- (something, I can't remember what, sorry) was good too. It had a fruit and nut bar taste to it, which I love. Walnut Date was good too. It was more plain than the other two, but still good. While these are good I probably wouldn't buy them on a regular basis, but if they were around I would eat them. I could probably make my own fruit and nut bars that taste just a good. That's going to be one of my next experiments.

Larabar - I went to a Celiac support group meeting recently and they had these to try. I am so glad I did not pay money for these. I tried two kinds, Apple Pie and Pecan Pie. I tried the Apple Pie one first. It was gross. Seriously, it was dry and had this really funny tang. Seeing as these bars are mostly nuts and dates I thought that the plainer Pecan Pie one would taste better. However, it tasted exactly the same as the Apple Pie one. If I had been blind-folded I wouldn't have been able to tell them apart. I have recently been experimenting with nuts and dates and my wacky experiments have turned out way better than either of these bars.

Bob's Red Mill Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal - I actually liked this. It's really plain but you can do so much with it. I really liked it with honey and cinnamon in it. I have also tried it with blueberries. I also think it would be really good with baked apples, bacon and cheese (if I could eat cheese), and so many other things!! It's kind of like grits but chewier. It also has a more neutral flavor than grits, much more versatile. I would definitely recommend this.

So, the trend throughout this post, except for the Hot Cereal, is that most things that are made to be gluten free and not very good. I have found that it is better to experiment with homemade things and things that are naturally gluten free. This just further supports my idea of eating a mostly whole foods diet. But I will probably try more 'gluten free' things hoping to find something that is good. I'll keep you posted.